Title: About the Establishment of a European Research Network on Youth Mentoring
Facilitator and room number: Dirk Postma, Òscar Prieto-Flores; 1.308
Documented by: Stephan Pöllmann
Number of participants: 23
Starting hypothesis:
A European Research Network on Youth Mentoring could benefit from the previous work of scholars who have collaborated with other research networks at a European level as well as other enriching community-based and school-based experiences.
Sequence of content:
After a brief presentation of the attendees, a dialogue and agreements on how to organise a European Research Network were established followed by a concluding brainstorming.
Three main points of discussion:
The aim of the discussion was to figure out the needs of practitioners and researchers. Why is a network necessary in the first place? Then it was discussed how this could look like in practice and finally it was briefly addressed who should implement it.
Result/s of Session:
A European Research Network is needed due to multiple reasons. For sharing Bachelor and Master thesis, data sets and questionnaires as well as for peer feedback. Additionally, it could function as a PhD network and as a starting point to reach out to other related fields. Having a platform with personal profiles was encouraged and using an existing platform rather than creating a new one was strongly advised.
One thing that was laughed about:
During the discussion about using an existing platform, an American lady suggested the use of a US platform and right away apologised for the appropriation attempt and for stealing the project from the Europeans, which led to laughter.
Further questions/issues:
It was remarked that the discussion had already been initiated during the first summit in Leeuwarden in 2016. However once again, there is no concrete outcome as to who will implement the idea in practice or who will start or continue a platform in the end.